GM Upgrades 5 Michigan Plants

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GM is upgrading 5 plants in Michigan, including ones which will build redesigned, full-size pickup trucks and the next-generation Cadillac CTS sedan. Here is Christine Tierney's report in the Detroit News.

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This is nothing more than GM and Granholm trying to save face in light of recent announcements. This investment has been allocated years ago to support new launches of the new 6sp transmission, CTS and launch of the 900s.

PONTIAC, Mich. - General Motors Corp. said Tuesday that it will hire almost 300 workers and invest $545 million in five Michigan plants.

While the news was good for GM's home state, which has lost an estimated 130,000 auto manufacturing jobs in the last five years, the investment is dwarfed by the struggling automaker's restructuring plan, which calls for shedding 30,000 jobs nationally by 2008.

A big chunk of the investment — $163 million — will go to GM's Pontiac Assembly Center, which makes the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, GM spokesman Dan Flores said. Production of the next generation of those pickups is scheduled to begin later this year.

GM plans to hire 280 people at the Pontiac plant, all workers who are currently employed at GM plants or have been laid off from their jobs. GM has several thousand laid-off workers in a jobs bank. They get most of their pay and benefits even when they're not working.

The company also disclosed three improvement projects that have already been started but weren't announced earlier.

The company is investing $152 million in its Ypsilanti transmission plant to increase production capacity for its rear-wheel-drive, six-speed transmissions, Flores said. It is investing $60 million in its Romulus engine plant for making the small-block V8 engines that will go into its new full-size trucks. It is also spending $32 million to update the hydroforming equipment in its Pontiac metal stamping plant, which uses water to help make the unique curves on the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters.

GM said it is investing $138 million to expand the body shop in its Lansing Grand River assembly plant, a state-of-the-art facility that will make the new Cadillac CTS. The sedan will go into production late this year or early next year.

Joe Spielman, vice president and general manager of GM's North American manufacturing operations, said the investments demonstrate GM's commitment to Michigan and to improving its products.

But Erich Merkle, an analyst with the Grand Rapids-based consulting firm IRN Inc., said GM was simply putting a positive spin on investments that had to be made anyway because there are some significant changes to the vehicle models.

"It's a little bit of puffery, to offset the bad news that's been out there the last three or four months," Merkle said. "In automotive terms, it's pocket change. It's really not that much money in the scheme of things."

GM lost $8.6 billion last year as it struggled with falling U.S. sales and increased costs for health care and materials. But the company has said it won't sacrifice product development, and its global capital spending was up $1 billion to $8 billion in 2005.

It has targeted 12 facilities for closure by 2008, including four locations in Michigan that employ 4,751 hourly and salaried workers. The closures must still be negotiated with the

United Auto Workers union, whose contract with GM expires in 2007.

GM and the UAW also are in talks now with auto supplier Delphi Corp., which has threatened to ask a bankruptcy court judge to void its union contracts by this Friday if it doesn't reach an agreement to lower its labor costs. Delphi is GM's former parts division and the automaker's largest supplier.

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"But Erich Merkle, an analyst with the Grand Rapids-based consulting firm IRN Inc., said GM was simply putting a positive spin on investments that had to be made anyway because there are some significant changes to the vehicle models.

"It's a little bit of puffery, to offset the bad news that's been out there the last three or four months," Merkle said. "In automotive terms, it's pocket change. It's really not that much money in the scheme of things.""

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I'm sure you, in particular, would agree that people should never sacrifice telling the truth in order to keep other people feeling warm & fuzzy.

Right you are my friend.

Thanks for giving me a fresh view on the topic.

My apologies.

"But Erich Merkle, an analyst with the Grand Rapids-based consulting firm IRN Inc., said GM was simply putting a positive spin on investments that had to be made anyway because there are some significant changes to the vehicle models.

"It's a little bit of puffery, to offset the bad news that's been out there the last three or four months," Merkle said. "In automotive terms, it's pocket change. It's really not that much money in the scheme of things.""

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I'm sure you, in particular, would agree that people should never sacrifice telling the truth in order to keep other people feeling warm & fuzzy.

No one is asking anyone else to sacrifice telling the truth. However, most of the automotive media focuses "only on the bad", deliberately overlooking the good. Once in a while, people have to be awakened to the fact that "half glass" of water is "half full", not always "half empty", as some would have us believe.

GM has done some good things lately, the CTS as an example. It doesn't matter when the investment for this announcement was made or whether it's pocket change. The real news is that maybe, just maybe, GM is trying to fix it's problems, one small step at a time.

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evok, i know this is totally off topic, and you can take this to PM if necessary, but how soon can we expect that CTS. I'm worried that someone said it's a 2009 MY car now. I thought we could be expecting it as soon as next year.

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evok, i know this is totally off topic, and you can take this to PM if necessary, but how soon can we expect that CTS. I'm worried that someone said it's a 2009 MY car now. I thought we could be expecting it as soon as next year.

i was under the impression it would get a refresh for 07, and redesign by 08...

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i was under the impression it would get a refresh for 07, and redesign by 08...

how far along is sigma II?

i'm unclear as to the progress of sigma II and this redesign.....so far I know it won't be refreshed any time soon, we're just getting the full redesign and I am 99% sure it will be on sigma II. the redesign should be arriving within the next year or two.

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i'm unclear as to the progress of sigma II and this redesign.....so far I know it won't be refreshed any time soon, we're just getting the full redesign and I am 99% sure it will be on sigma II. the redesign should be arriving within the next year or two.

yea thats what i thought, but for some reason i was under the impression the 07's would get a facelift on the cts, because the sigma wouldnt be ready for change...

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evok, i know this is totally off topic, and you can take this to PM if necessary, but how soon can we expect that CTS. I'm worried that someone said it's a 2009 MY car now. I thought we could be expecting it as soon as next year.